Ricky Hatton has appeared in court to fight a £1m claim from his former trainer.

Billy Graham, who was in Hatton's corner for 11 years before being sacked in July last year, is suing The Hitman for more than £1m he claims he is owed from fights.

He is claiming he was not paid for his last fight in charge of Hatton, the win over Juan Lazcano at the City of Manchester Stadium, a year ago.

And he is also claiming he was due a larger cut of Hatton's earnings for the clash with Floyd Mayweather, which he lost in December 2007, and was the Manchester fighter's biggest pay day.

Graham is believed to have been paid £450,000 for that fight, but wants 10 per cent of the fighter's total earnings for the contest.

Both men were in court for legal submissions at Manchester's Civil Justice Centre ahead of the opening of the case, due tomorrow morning.

Graham's barrister, Jonathan Crystal, told the court his client had been smeared in paper submissions made to the court by the Hatton camp.

One of the allegations was that Graham would often not report for training until 12 noon.

The Hatton camp also claimed Graham 'failed to properly oversee the bandaging' of the fighter's hands before the clash with Mayweather.

Looking over at Hatton, Mr Crystal said: "We should admire and celebrate the achievements of Ricky Hatton. But there are those who are part of his current team who must bear responsibility for what's being done in his name."

Mr Hatton's lawyer, Martin Budworth, had earlier sought to make amendments to witness statements to the court.

One of these acknowledged Hatton's father Ray had wrongly been described as his manager, and that he should correctly be referred to as his advisor.

"It's an admission that he acted as an unlicensed boxing manager," said Mr Crystal.

Hatton is currently banned by the British Board of Control after allegations earlier this year that he took cocaine.